| Health Awareness in the British-Chinese Community |
|
|
|
| What\'s On | |
|
Everyone should be concerned about their own health and seek medical advice whenever they are concerned about something. If any symptoms are experienced one should in the first instance seek advice from your GP. We all know this and should be obvious, right? However, I think that it would not be unfair to say that the population in Great Britain as a whole are not very good at following this common sense approach to their own health matters and many surveys and research reports have shown this to be true. Also, men seem to be the worst at seeking out medical advice when necessary - according to many studies anyway. I would argue that this scenario is even worse if we look solely at the British-Chinese population and this has been highlighted to me by some personal experiences with relatives recently. So why do I think that health awareness within the British-Chinese community is worse than that of the general population as whole? Is it true or is it just my own perceptions? Is there anything that can be done to improve this? Can Dimsum and it's visitors/members do anything to help? Before I go on, I should clarify that I am not arguing about the medical knowledge of the British-Chinese population. Indeed, some have excellent knowledge of many medical conditions. What I am talking about here is the willingless to get professional medical advice from a GP when it is needed. About a couple of years ago one of my aunts was diagnosed with breast cancer. This was traumatic for the whole family. She later revealed that she had noticed a small abnormality in her breast quite a while back. She did not go to the GP about it at that point. She waited until it had grown to quite a size and it started causing her pain. After showing it to my mother, my mother instantly made an appointment for her to see the GP the following day. After some scans and tests it was confirmed that she had cancer. She is currently still undergoing treatment but the outlook is not good and her health has gotten a lot worse in recent months. Had she told someone earlier and gone to the GP her chances might have been a lot higher than they are now. More recently, we have also discovered that my father has health problems related to his chest. He had been coughing up blood and had not told anyone. It was only discovered when my mother and sister saw it in the toilet. Again he was rushed to see the GP and scans indicate a problem in the lungs. According to the GP and my medical friends, it can only be one of two things - some kind of infection (TB) or neoplasm (cancer). We are still awaiting the results and further tests for my father. Needless to say, this is a very worrying time for me and I have my fingers crossed for both my father and my aunt! But I have been asking myself why they would not have sought help much earlier than they had (from their own immediate family members or their GPs)? I would guess that many visitors and members of the Dimsum website are of a relatively young age. Most of you will probably be very health aware given the many health related awareness promotions from the govenment over the years not to mention the emphasis on these issues that is present in many school courses. Although it should be said that even those who are aware of the need to seek help when needed often don't (so take note). Many of our British-Chinese elders are the first generation within their own family to settle in Great Britain and for a variety of reasons language may still be a barrier for many of them even after living in this country for many years. Therefore, many of the govenment promotions and information programmes may not have sunk in. This may not be true of all or many British-Chinese families but in my family the level of education of my parents and grand-parents is shockingly low. My mother did not even finish primary school because of economic reasons within her family when she was only a young girl - although I have to say that she is probably more intelligent than most ivy league university graduates I know (certainly much more intelligent than I am) - intelligence and knowledge are different things in my opinion. Back to the main point... I wonder if the lack of a full school education (which most probably would have included education on health matters) has anything to do with the apparent lack of health awareness? It was mentioned earlier that language may still be a barrier for many of the older generation of British-Chinese in the UK. Could it be a fear of not being able to explain the problems to the GP? This does not explain it entirely since there are quite a number of GPs and doctors in the UK with a British-Chinese background and can speak the various Chinese dialects between them. In addition, the sons and daughthers and other relatives of later generations will often be fluent in English and are more than happy to accompany them (some would most certainly insist that they go with them) to the GP and translate. Could it be that they do not want to bother the busy lives of their sons and daughters (or other relatives)? Looking to the future, what we do to change the current attitudes? How we motivate and enable people to look after their health? Is it knowledge and information that is required or is it to do with psycology or other issues? If there are any GPs (or other doctors) out there who are reading this, I think that any GPs that have British-Chinese patients can play an important part in promoting the importance of perosnal health awareness. One thing that is certain is that SOMETHING should be done... It is the current situation in my own family that has highlighted this problem and prompted me to write this article. All that I have attempted to do is highlight the problems (although I wish I had the solution as well). I hope that it will stimulate discussion amongst visitors to Dimsum and perhaps formulate a campaign or educational programme to change the attitudes towards personal health within the British-Chinese community for the better - at least within your own immediate families if not for the community as a whole. |
|
